From The Colin Comer Collection Main Attraction

Monterey 2017
Aug 16-19

About The Collection

As a teenager, Colin Comer's job included restoring everything from vintage competition Ferraris to muscle cars. Soon, though, he ventured out on his own, starting a restoration business from his two-car garage: Colin E. Comer Automotive Services. Within a few years, Comer had expanded to a small shop and changed his doing-business-as name to Classic Auto, as in Comer’s own words: “I was a teenager working on priceless cars. People would come in and see this ‘kid’ working on cars and ask to speak to the boss. So I took my name off the door so I could say, ‘the old man isn’t in today, but I’ll be happy to help you.’ Not that it helped because after a while people figured out there was no ‘old man!’”

New name or not, as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Comer’s reputation for meticulously turned-out restorations and his knack for making cars run as good as they look. It was a lot of hard work, but that didn’t bother Comer, he was doing what he loved. In the years that followed, his shop also offered the opportunity to build an impressive and eclectic, blue-chip-quality private collection of his own. And while he’ll freely admit that he’s moved cars in and out of this collection over the years, constantly perfecting it, he is also “a much better buyer than seller.”

Today, decades later, besides being a well-known collector-car expert, Comer still works on cars daily, but has also authored six best-selling and critically acclaimed books, including “Million-Dollar Muscle Cars,” “The Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles,” “Shelby Mustang Fifty Years” and “Shelby Cobra Fifty Years,” which was named the “Greatest Car Book Of All Time” by “Esquire” magazine. Comer further shares his knowledge in his decade-plus role of editor-at-large for Keith Martin’s “Sports Car Market” and “American Car Collector” magazines, as well as “Road & Track,” “Vintage Motorsport” and other publications. In addition to Comer’s writing, he has also served as a concours judge at Pebble Beach, the Arizona Concours, and for the last 10 years, at the Milwaukee Concours d’Elegance where he became Chief Judge in 2016.

In his garage, it is clear Comer’s vehicles are something in which he takes great pride, especially the fact that his is a working collection. “All of the race cars get raced, all of the street cars get driven. Every car in the collection is totally sorted out, tuned, ready to hop in and use. They are all on a maintenance schedule and nothing gets left until ‘next time.’” Comer’s passion for exceptional, original, unrestored cars is also evident. It’s obvious he loves the history as much as anything, but more impressive is how he’s been able to find important cars that also have these kinds of stories.

One-, two- and three-owner cars abound, as do original-paint and unrestored examples of cars not often seen in any condition, let alone like this. Quite simply, they are the very best of their kind. From well-known vintage racers and low-mileage, unrestored sports cars to homegrown American classics, this exciting selection lends proof of a man so dedicated to the quality of vehicles he owns that they are unlikely to be duplicated.

Information found on the website is presented as advance information for the auction lot. Photos, materials for videos, descriptions and other information are provided by the consignor/seller and is deemed reliable, but Mecum Auction does not verify, warrant or guarantee this information. The lot and information presented at auction on the auction block supersedes any previous descriptions or information. Mecum is not responsible for information that may be changed or updated prior to the auction. The decision to purchase should be based solely on the buyers personal inspection of the lot at the auction site prior to the auction.

Catalogs

Information found on the website is presented as advance information for the auction lot. Photos, materials for videos, descriptions and other information are provided by the consignor/seller and is deemed reliable, but Mecum Auction does not verify, warrant or guarantee this information. The lot and information presented at auction on the auction block supersedes any previous descriptions or information. Mecum is not responsible for information that may be changed or updated prior to the auction. The decision to purchase should be based solely on the buyers personal inspection of the lot at the auction site prior to the auction.